A British commando, killed in action during the Saint-Nazaire Raid, lies in a pool of blood. The Saint-Nazaire Raid (codenamed Operation Chariot) was a successful British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Louis Joubert Lock at Saint-Nazaire in German occupied France. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy and British Commandos under the auspices of Combined Operations Headquarters. Saint-Nazaire was targeted because the loss of its dry dock would force any large German…

Paratrooper behind enemy lines before Normandy Invasion. As it became increasingly clear to the paras that the “main force” would never arrive, Sgt-Maj. Henry P Rowswell of the 5th Airborne (an avid amateur photographer who brought his Leica along, against regulations) snapped this photo of his apprehensive CO.

The British Commandos were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, for a force that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe. Initially drawn from within the British Army from soldiers who volunteered for special service, the Commandos' ranks would eventually be filled by members of all branches of the United Kingdom's armed forces and a number of foreign volunteers from German-occupied countries.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. He played a lot of swashbucklers on screen but Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was quite the real life swashbuckler. As an officer in the US Naval Reserve he worked as a liaison to the British commandos. It almost sounds like something out of a movie. He was so impressed with the British commando tactics that he proposed something similar for the US Navy. This was the start of the Navy's "Beach Jumpers". but they were like Navy SEALs .